The city’s former Masters hardware store on Learmonth Road was one of 10 sites News.com.au reported would be open in time for holiday shopping.

However a Home Consortium spokesperson told The Courier on Wednesday that the Ballarat store would open sometime early next year.

It will be one of 30 sites opened in 2018, with eight already open across the country.

Home Consortium chairman David Di Pilla said the company was delighted with strong consumer response to the openings that had already happened.

“Our retailers across the eight centres that will be open before the end of the year are gearing up to offer gran opening specials and promotions as we head into the holiday season,” he said.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank our advisers, financiers, consultants and contractors, who have worked with us to prepare and complete the transaction with Woolworths, and who have then commenced the rapid transformation of the centre portfolio.”

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The consortium’s centres have been broken into the categories of daily-needs shopping, homewares and electrical, or leisure, lifestyle and education.

With an Aldi and supermarkets at the Stockland Wendouree, the former Masters site will likely be made up of the second two categories.

Mr Di Pilla said in August, the consortium was in the process of finalising an anchor tenant for the site.

“The Ballarat centre is progressing well and we are really excited about the tenant mix,” he said.

More than 8000 staff members were affected by the closure of Masters stores across Australia when the decision was made to shut the retailer down in August last year.

The Woolworths-owned hardware business was the only tenant at the Eureka Homemaker Centre at the time, before Aldi opened its doors.

The Masters spent three troubled years at the site before its closure. Home Consortium included Aurrum Group, Spotlight Group and Chemist Warehouse when it bought 40 Masters sites across Australia.